A Prayer to Honour the Dead
by KhemRocks
Summary: SPOILERS! Manga canon: There was a month after the World of Memories before the fateful trip to Egypt, and the end of it all. Yugi finds the pharaoh, with memories newly restored, honouring some fallen friends. Oneshot.


-1**A Prayer to Honour the Dead**

**Summary: **SPOILERS! Manga canon: There was a month after the World of Memories before the fateful trip to Egypt, and the end of it all. Yugi finds the pharaoh, with memories newly restored, honouring some fallen friends. Oneshot.

When he came to full awareness, Yugi could discern only that he was low to the ground in a seemingly cavernous, dimly lit room. Beside him he could see his own physical body, though it was not his soul who could feel the press of the stone against his knees as his Other Self knelt on the floor. "Mou hitori no boku…"

Now that he was fully aware, Yugi could easily recall that his Other Self (no, that wasn't right, anymore, though he still wanted to call him that…for as long as he could…) had quietly asked for this time for himself in charge of their- his - body, and he had granted it at once, struck by the serious expression in the angled, slightly transparent eyes that had gazed back at him. Was that a flicker of deep sadness in those mysterious violet depths? Deep inside himself knew that the cause for such a request had to be serious, if his Other Self had brought himself to ask for full control of the body, if only for a short time. The former pharaoh had been wary of asking for such a thing ever since Doma, despite Yugi's protests that he trusted his Other as much as he always had. But in the end, he knew nothing he said could make the spirit feel any better about his actions that day in America.

Looking around, Yugi found - to his surprise - that they were knelt in the lower Ancient Egypt exhibit room in the Domino Museum after hours. He could only suppose that the Ishtars had arranged this visit. Turning his gaze back to his Other, he found that the former pharaoh was kneeling with both hands raised, palms upwards, eyes closed. In front of him was an rather odd collection of food, When his other had asked for food to take with him, Yugi had not questioned it much, merely assuming his other self would require a snack on whatever errand he wanted to run. Now it appeared to be not for his own consumption, but part of whatever small ritual his other was conducting. The smell of these items was almost covered by the scent of a small incense boat, the slowly burning stick sending a small coil of perfumed grey smoke up into the air like a little stairway to the gods. Yugi was suddenly gripped by the feeling that he was intruding on something very mysterious and private.

It was then that he realized what may have awoken him from his visit to his Soul Room, where he had withdrawn so as to give his Other Self the privacy he desired. His other was speaking quietly, his eyes still closed. Yugi opened his mouth to respond, then realized that the language his double was intoning was definitely not Japanese. _Ancient Egyptian…_

Yugi was suddenly struck by the scene, its contrasts: the apparently perfectly modern looking Japanese teenager, wearing the sapphire blue school uniform, leather encircling his neck, wrists and waist, kneeling in the pose of Ancient Egyptian prayer and reverence in the dimly lit room, burning incense, speaking a language people had not heard aloud for _thousands of years…_

Yugi felt the guilt swell up inside him, that he had so carelessly returned to his spiritual form and possibly interrupted what appeared to be a very personal moment for his Other Self. He began the concentration what would return him to his Soul Room, when he heard the a voice speak quietly.

"It's alright if you stay." The deep voice was little more than a murmur, and slightly distracted, as if his Other Self was still caught in the trance of his prayer. After another long moment, he lowered his hands and turned his head slightly to meet Yugi's gaze. "I apologize for taking up so much of your time."

"No! No, it's okay, I'm sorry I interrupted you, you were obviously doing something important, this…" Yugi gestured with a largely transparent arm at his Other Self and the scene in front of him, as if to express the futility of trying to put it into words.

"It's alright," the deep voice replied. He turned his angular gaze back to face the front again, though this time his eyes were open and his mind seemed far away. After a moment in which Yugi could feel himself growing uncomfortable and curious and wondering if he should leave his other to his musings, the former pharaoh spoke again.

"I was…praying. It may seem odd, but it's something that they…I…used to do a lot. Just a message and sustenance to those who have already departed to the Field of Reeds. One can only hope," he amended, with a small shake of his head, gaze lowering even further, "they certainly deserve paradise."

Yugi could recall from his grandfather's stories and his own reading that the "Field of Reeds" was the justified Ancient Egyptian afterlife, and that prayers to the dead were common in those times. Incense was often burnt for this, and even physical offerings left to sustain the souls of the departed so that they could enjoy the offerings in the hereafter, which explained the items his other had arranged in front of him.

"Who were you praying for?" The words were out of Yugi's mouth before he could reconsider them, his curiosity and concern over his other's sad demeanour winning over all other thought processes for the moment. His other still wouldn't meet his eyes.

"Friends. Tch, I should say, friends I knew…back then."

"In Ancient Egypt."

"_Aa_. They were my priests and, more importantly, my friends, for many years, and fought alongside me in the great battle against Zorc."

"What happened to them?"

"Most of them died. Protecting me."

It was as though he had been struck across the face. Yugi reeled mentally, and all but physically, from this new information. Even now, he did not know the full story of what had happened in his other Self's World of Memory, and his real past. He had guessed that it would not all be pleasant, dying defeating an enormous demon, but to see your friends die on front of you, knowing that they did it to save you?

"I'm… so sorry, _mou hitori no boku_."

"Thank you. They were great people. Someday I hope to see them again, and reward them. I only wish…they hadn't gone because of me. They deserved far better. Sometimes I feel that…that is the way it is with me. My track record is against me, _neh_?" Here, his other looked up briefly to meet his gaze with a small, wry smile that held no humour in it at all. His tone was heartbroken. Yugi suddenly felt as though a cold hand had reached inside his chest and squeezed his heart in a vice grip.

"No it isn't!" he said urgently, never being more sure of the words in his life. His other had always been so serious, so sure, always ready to carry the weight of the world of his shoulders, his expression that of a seasoned warrior about to head into battle. It was rare that Yugi was able to see the chinks in the armour.

"It's not like that" You've helped me, you've helped our friends, you've saved the entire _world. _Don't you know by now?" Yugi queried passionately, forcing his other to meet his gaze: "Why me and everyone and everyone else helps you? Because we _believe_ in you. Because we _care _about you. We don't want to see you hurt, either! That's why we came after you! And those people, back then? I bet so did they. I bet they were fine, because they would know that you were safe. You were lucky to have friends like those."

His Other Self was now staring, shocked, into Yugi's eyes. Yugi could see them glint in the dim light. He hadn't meant to upset his other, but he knew he had to say what he did, had to help his friend in any way that he could. He could tell from the unshed tears his other would never acknowledge that he knew his words to be true.

"Thank you, _Aibou_. I _was_ lucky. Lucky to know them, and to know you, my partner, and our friends. Thank you."

"You know?" Yugi spoke again after a long moment of silence, in which the two friends, with a bond unlike any others, sat silently supporting each other, "It makes me happy to know you had friends like that. It makes…what may happen easier. To know you'll have them by your side…if for some reason I can't be."

There. He'd done it. He'd finally voiced the anxieties over what he had known was hanging over them ever since their return from the Memory World, growing closer and close, time slowly trickling away like sand through an hourglass. The time would come. Two souls could not share a body for ever. He had vowed in Battle City(How long ago that seemed, now) that he would not hold his Other back. But knowing that his other was going…back, to people who must have genuinely cared about him, lifted a weight from his shoulders that he had been trying not to acknowledge. The deep, serious look in the former pharaoh's eyes, from where he sat across from him, conveyed his understanding, offering a quiet affirmation and nod of his head in reply.

"But you will always have a special place in my heart, _Aibou_," his other spoke again, laying to rest Yugi's other unspoken, nagging concern.

"Tell me about them," said Yugi suddenly. His other looked surprised, angular violet eyes wide. "I want to know. I want to understand_," I want to help you,_ was the unspoken, but known by both, addition.

And, slowly at first, the former pharaoh began to tell him about his fallen friends, whom Yugi had never known. Sitting together on the cool stone floor, Yugi began to understand more of his other's life. He thought to himself has he listened, and questioned, and supported, that they should share the story with their friends, as much a part of the their extraordinary story as they were. A story that could soon have an ending, for his beloved Other at least.

As he sat they across from Atem - no, for now, still his Other in all the ways that really counted - Yugi thought that the difference, of thousands of miles and years, shouldn't force them further apart. The understanding should bring them closer together, at least until the day when they would be forced to separate.


End file.
